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Welcome, sewing pattern enthusiasts! The Fashion Belle operation will be moving to the southern United States this summer. It is an exciting but busy time. Please keep checking back for news on when our own patterns will be in print (soon after our move, hopefully!), and also use the tabs above to explore reviews of hundreds of other companies that provide modest clothing and sewing patterns.

Lifelike rag dolls are becoming scarce in the children's doll market that is dominated by molded plastic pieces. Hand-crafted fabric dolls are more costly to manufacture than molded plastic, so that is why sewing your own rag dolls for the little girls in your life may be the next hobby on your list. Rag dolls are soft all over and therefore more cuddly than dolls made from plastic. They also help encourage imaginative play by avoiding the beauty stereotypes that are a risk with plastic dolls that exaggerate human ideals of beauty.

Clothes we have loved and worn for years sometimes have wear left in them but no longer suit our needs as well as they once did. Such was the case with a long-sleeved Ann Taylor blouse, shown at left. This blouse was one I had purchased to wear with a black suit or tucked into skirts, but my wardrobe has gradually shifted away from tucked-in shirts, and I now prefer no-collar tops with suits. The blouse was made from a superior quality of cotton, so I combined it with portions of the sleeves of another fine cotton blouse that had also grown unused because of its overall style.

(Screenshot from Dior, diamond in white gold.) After working nearly nonstop for eighteen months as an apparel patternmaker in New York City, I finally found time in November 2008 to take two weeks off to explore Manhattan's museums, historic landmarks and the many flagship stores of renowned fashion brands in the city that has been called "the fashion capitol of the world." The largest concentration of high fashion retail in New York is located around 5th and Madison Avenues to the south and southeast of Central Park.